Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Stake Lessened by Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc.

Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. lowered its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 17.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,672 shares during the period. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $293,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VZ. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 88,532.0% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 79,084,569 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,115,932,000 after acquiring an additional 78,995,341 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $1,829,675,000. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 21.4% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 67,976,459 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,678,273,000 after acquiring an additional 11,987,691 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 175,039,883 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $6,509,733,000 after acquiring an additional 8,171,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.8% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 339,007,286 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $12,607,681,000 after acquiring an additional 5,910,739 shares in the last quarter. 61.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $604,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ traded up $0.40 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $40.52. The company had a trading volume of 21,850,666 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,571,281. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.10. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.14 and a 12 month high of $43.21. The firm has a market cap of $170.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.68, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.40.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.08. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The business had revenue of $35.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.60 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.19 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.56%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 96.38%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VZ. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 19th. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.00.

Verizon Communications Company Profile

Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of communications, technology, information, and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses, and governmental entities worldwide. It operates in two segments, Verizon Consumer Group (Consumer) and Verizon Business Group (Business).